February 16, 2004 - 6:52 p.m.

Spent the weekend without a computer.  I hid it in a
drawer. Discovered that im not addicted.  
I got half way through The Invisible Man by Ralph 
Ellison.  Most paragraphs have an observation or image 
that stayed with me after I closed the book.  Its about 
a black man in America in the fifties.  Much more than
that; its about people, the 'human condition' and all 
that good stuff. Go read it.

"...and i recall the sudden arpeggios of laughter
    lilting across the tender, springtime grass -  
    gay-welling, far-floating, fluent, spontaneous, 
    a bell-like feminine fluting, then suppressed; 
    as though snuffed swiftly and irrevocably 
    beneath the quiet solemnity of the vespered air 
    now vibrant with somber chapel bells...
   ...and we were moving not in the mood of worship 
    but of judgement; as though even here in the 
    filtering dusk, here beneath the deep indigo 
    sky, here, alive with looping swifts and 
    darting moths, here in the hereness of the 
    night not yet lighted by the moon that looms 
    blood-red behind the chapel like a fallen sun, 
   ...and we drifting forward with ridgid motions, 
    limbs stiff and voices now silent, as though on 
    exibit even in the dark, and the moon a white 
    man's bloodshot eye.
...
And I remember the chapel with its sweeping eaves, long 
and low as though risen bloody from the earth like the 
rising moon; vine-covered and earth-colored as though 
more earth-sprung than man-sprung."


.Be My Valentine


http://www.languagehat.com/archives/000431.php
'Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, 
and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind.'

'You' [maybe from french 'vous'] was introduced to the 
language in 13th century as polite/formal version of 
'thou'.  16th century England had an upwardly mobile 
middle class.Everyone getting rich quick, dont know who 
is your superior in politeness heirarchy, so be polite 
to everyone!  Less formal 'thou' dies out.


.Strangest thing ive heard all week/month/..year?
http://memelo.julianors.org/yuri_harmonica.swf
he's called Yuri. Beatbox/harmonica at once.


.Are Zen Monks Insane?[ahh but madness is all relative. 
A word describing someone who does not share your mental 
state. Who's mad? - read Catch 22]
"...Next was Zen Master Chun Song, who was famous for 
his wild actions and obscene language. Soen-sa bowed to 
him and said, "I killed all the Buddhas of past, 

present, and future. What can you do?"

Chun Song said, "Aha!" and looked deeply into Soen-sa's 
eyes. Then he said, "What did you see?"

Soen-sa said, "You already understand."

Chun Song said, "Is that all?"

Soen-sa said, "There's a cuckoo singing in the tree out- 
side the window."

Chun Song laughed and said, "Aha!" He asked several more 
questions, which Soen-sa answered without difficulty. 
Finally, Chun Song leaped up and danced around Soen-sa, 
shouting, "You are enlightened! You are enlightened!
......

On January 15, the session was over, and Soen-sa left to 
see Ko Bong. On the way to Seoul, he had interviews with 
Zen Master Keum Bong and Zen Master Keum Oh. Both gave 
him inga, the seal of validation of a Zen student's 
great awakening.

Soen-sa arrived at Ko Bong's temple dressed in his old 
patched retreat clothes and carrying a knapsack. He 
bowed to Ko Bong and said, "All the Buddhas turned out 
to be a bunch of corpses. How about a funeral service?"

Ko Bong said, "Prove it!"

Soen-sa reached into his knapsack and took out a dried 
cuttlefish and a bottle of wine. "Here are the leftovers 
from the funeral party."

Ko Bong said, "Then pour me some wine."

Soen-sa said, "Okay. Give me your glass."

Ko Bong held out his palm.

Soen-sa slapped it with the bottle and said, "That's not 
a glass, it's your hand!" Then he put the bottle on the 
floor.

Ko Bong laughed and said, "Not bad. You're almost done. 
But I have a few questions for you." He proceeded to ask 
Soen-sa the most difficult of the seventeen-hundred 
traditional Zen kong-ans. Soen-sa answered without 
hindrance.

Then Ko Bong said, "All right, one last question. The 
mouse eats cat-food, but the cat-bowl is broken. What 
does this mean?"

Soen-sa said, "The sky is blue, the grass is green."

Ko Bong shook his head and said, "No."

Soen-sa was taken aback. He had never missed a Zen 
question before. His face began to grow red as he gave 
one "like this" answer after another. Ko Bong kept 
shaking his head. Finally Soen-sa exploded with anger 
and frustration. "Three Zen Masters have given me inga! 
Why do you say I'm wrong?!"

Ko Bong said, "What does it mean? Tell me."

For the next fifty minutes, Ko Bong and Soen-sa sat 
facing each other, hunched like two tomcats. The silence 
was electric. Then, all of a sudden, Soen-sa had the 
answer. It was "just like this."

When Ko Bong heard it, his eyes grew moist and his face 
filled with joy. He embraced Soen-sa and said, "You are 
the flower; I am the bee."

On January 25, 1949, Soen-sa received from Ko Bong the 
Transmission of Dharma, thus becoming the Seventy-Eighth 
Patriarch in this line of succession. It was the only 
Transmission that Ko Bong ever gave.

After the ceremony, Ko Bong said to Soen-sa, "For the 
next three years you must keep silent. You are a free 
man. We will meet again in five hundred years."

Soen-sa was now a Zen Master. He was twenty-two years 
old. "

Acting like this could get you locked up in a mental
hospital.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx=====----
.Action Words
'Yes, but what's the point in thinking about things 
differently if this doesn't translate directly into 
action, but merely more debate? '

Actions are always the result of words/thoughts. 
Words are a starting point, and are valuable as that.

When you exchange ideas the minds involved are always 
changed.

(even if its 'oh, there's another weirdo who thinks like 
that'- it all adds up)

 
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